transportation in Italy

Becky, There are most definitely numerous trains travelling that route every day. Just to clarify, the "central station" you're probably referring to in Florence will be Firenze SMN, and the arrival station will be Milano Centrale. Which website are you using to research rail journeys? If you could provide a bit more information on your trip (ie: date and time you'll be travelling), it would be easier to offer more specific information. Happy travels!

You have the right central stations. We aren't traveling until September. I was using raileurope but didn't come up with anything for Milans central station from Florence. I am debating whether or not to get a rail pass. We have 3 major journeys. I don't believe I can use the rail pass for the small trains. Right? Milan to Florence and back and Milan to Venice. It will cost $400 for the both of us for 3 days and so far it looks like we should just purchase in advance or while we are there. If I am reading the rates correctly it is $42 per person to and from Milan and $52 per person from Milan to Venice. I still need to do more research when we get closer to leaving. Thank you for your help

Get off Raileurope immediately! You are only seeing Italo trains. Nothing wrong with them, but their stations in Milan are Rogoredo (in the suburbs) and Porto Garibaldi, which is in Milan and easy access to everywhere via Metro and S-bahn. But the main rail company is Treinitalia, and they go to Milano Centrale. Got to www.trenitalia.com. You can find lots of trains, and you can buy nonrefundable tickets for a lot less than your budget.

Just picking random days in June, there are Florence-Milan, and Milan-Venice tickets availble on Trenitalia for 19 euro each. That's $100 total.

Sam: You have been most helpful. I will try trenitalia. I think I looked it up and I put in for sept and maybe that is to far out. Thank you again. You have eased my mind. I know I am planning far ahead but I am more comfortable that way. ciao

They only go on sale 4 months in advance. Today, Sept 9 is the last day they have available for purchase.

Becky, As the others have said, DON'T use Rail Europe, especially for researching rail journeys. The best method is to use the websites for the actual railway operators such as Trenitalia or bahn.de. A Railpass is rarely cost effective in Italy, especially since they don't include the reservation fees which are compulsory on the "premium" trains. You'd have to pay "out of pocket" for those. DON'T be caught without a valid reservation or you'll face hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot! You can save money by pre-purchasing tickets for the premium trains online. There's no point in buying tickets for Regionale trains online, as they're not sold long in advance and there are no discounts. Just buy Regionale tickets at stations in Italy, either from the ticket office or Kiosks. Keep in mind with premium trains that you'll be locked-into a specific train and departure time and if you miss that train, your tickets will be worthless and you'll have to buy more at full price. You may want to have a look at the excellent www.roninrome.com website prior to buying tickets online. The Trenitalia website is not known for being the most "user friendly", and Ron has provided a detailed tutorial on how to use the site. When travelling on Regionale trains, note that you MUST validate tickets prior to boarding on the day of travel. If you don't, again there will be hefty fines. Cheers!